Emily, Kate and 4 sweet little girls came to meet the snakes for encounters. Our first visit since summer 2020 .
Wonderful to have such sweet visitors, first of 2021 looking forward to more, the snakes enjoyed their handlers too, they love to escape from their vivariums for a while.
Our first visitors to the Sanctuary since March
Jamie, Scarlett, Phil and Jenny.
I just hope we have more visitors as we have had a difficult time funding the sanctuary for the last 6 months.
Myself and the snakes really enjoyed edutaining this lovely family.
Some of the snakes had their first outings since March, in the photos we have, Becky Kenyan Sand Boa, Lesley Corn Snake, Truffle Mexican Black, Patches Royal Python, Rezi Brazilian Rainbow Boa and Dobi Boa Constrictor.
There are approx. 30 snakes living in the sanctuary, most of them are handleable. we choose which snakes can be handled on the day as they cannot be handled when they are in slough (shedding their skins) or have just eaten.
There are two levels to the coach house and the smaller snakes are upstairs so we usually head upstairs to experience those first and check the larger snakes afterwards. Photos can be taken.
The photo on the left is the downstairs of the sanctuary, the photo on the right is the upstairs where a visitor is handling one of the Albino Burmese Pythons.
Here are some of the snakes in the Sanctuary:
Kenny the Kenyan Sand Boa,
Patches a Royal Python,
Bobo a Boa Constrictor.
Live Snake Encounters at Disability Trust:
So many folk overcome their fear of the unknown when they meet snakes.
We don’t meet snakes in everyday life here in Britain, so many people are afraid without really knowing why.
People pick up on negative media stories easily without proper investigation.
Sue has been taking in peoples unwanted pet snakes since 1996.
She began running educational presentations to create finance to care for them and also to educate the public.
Sue has a passion to educate people about snakes and is over the moon when previously snake phobic people realise that they are actually therapeutic to be with.
Sue was recently booked for the above to run her presentation with her friendly reptiles.
The children came to help and held lots of snakes while Sue was busy 🙂
Children’s Snake Parties: “Just Snakes” at a party may not seem enough when you can find lots of animal encounter parties bringing all manner of animals.
But in 90mins how much can you learn about each animal?
It also gives snake phobic people the chance to say no to snakes, which means the huge hole of information about reptiles continues to grow and the misinformation continues.
Our parties are specialised and have been that way since 1996!!
Children enjoy meeting snakes and finding out about them, children are actually interested in being educated (with fun attached).
In 90mins we cannot tell everything we know about snakes, but we can impart the most important information.
Snakes enjoy human interaction particularly if people are calm and kind (this makes for good education when dealing with any living being).
Snakes are actually therapeutic to interact with, in fact the vagus nerve is said to be stimulated by the movement of the snake on the base our neck which is probably the reason we feel so much calmer when we allow them to wander around our bodies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagus_nerve
Snakey Sue’s special words for everyone to remember before she allows them to handle the snakes in her care are: KIND, GENTLE and CALM
She believes if everyone interacted with all living beings using this criteria the world would be a better place to live in.
Below are photos of Rainer and his pals enjoying his snake party:
Speaker events, I have enjoyed speaking and dancing at quite a few speakers meetings over the years.
Talking about my life as a professional belly dancer, entertainer and herpetologist.
When talking and dancing I talk and play 3 or 4 short pieces of music to dance to, to illustrate the styles of dance i.e. Turkish, Egyptian. I can bring a snake to this event but it isn’t necessary.
Usually these societies are for older folk and many can be afraid of snakes at first but many overcome their fears once they realise there is nothing to fear, the snakes are socialised friendly and accommodating.
At most of them I have been too busy to take photos and my talk usually overruns the time allotted means I’m hurriedly packing up because we need to leave the hall.
Here are some pics, old and new, I managed to take;
shown below.
Experience Snake Encounters at Snakey Sue’s Serpent Sanctuary they’re available on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, Times 14.30 to 16.00 or 16.30 to 18.00.
We can comfortably accommodate 4 visitors these sessions are £80.
Please ring for availability as our Experience is advertised on Airbnb.
The Snake Sanctuary is situated in a 140yr old Coach house on our property and it has been adapted for the welfare of the snakes.
Snakey Sue and her lovable snakes can get you over your phobia or if you aren’t afraid you can enjoy handling them and having photos taken.
Sue has kept snakes since 1992 and has a wealth of information to impart to visitors, children can take home a souvenir shed snake-skin.
The Coach house has two levels and the steps to the top level are not for the faint-hearted but the snakes from the upstairs level can be brought down for handling if necessary.
We also have two tarantula “Charlie and Sam” and a giant African Land Snail “Winnie”. In the warmer months our two rescue tortoise “Tommy and Bobby” may be seen in the courtyard. There are two big fluffy Chows to meet if you like dogs otherwise they will be kept indoors.
Speaker for club meets: I have enjoyed speaking about my life experiences as a dancer, entertainer and herpetologist.
For most people in the audience I have had an unusual career in which, as a self employed person I have needed to re-invent my work style, so they find it interesting and I like to speak with a bit of humour added.
I have two different speaker styles to offer:
The problem is at these gigs I am so busy entertaining that I forget to take photos.
I have included some photos here of gigs past and present.
Snakes for Photo Shoots:
Most of the snakes living in the sanctuary are available for photo shoots, they are socialised and friendly.
We do get booked for quite a few photo shoots, photography with models or inanimate objects, also videos.
Our latest shoot was a music video with Bou, one of the Albino Python sisters and Benita a favourite Royal Python.
We don’t have the video shoot but we do have some photos of the crew, in their break, chilling with some snake therapy.
It was dark in the studio so the photos are rather dark.
Educational school visit: we visited Beechwood Sacred Heart School at Tunbridge Wells recently to meet the year 11 students and teach them about snakes.
We received a glowing testimonial from the science teacher copied below.
It was a fantastic afternoon; Sue was very informative and the students (and staff) learnt a lot about snakes and their adaptions. Having the chance to see and hold some of her snakes was also really well received – the students were thrilled! Overall the feedback from the students was overwhelmingly positive (even from the ones who weren’t that keen on the snakes themselves) and I would definitely look to book Sue again next year for any similar events we decide to run.
We are looking forward to being invited to lots more schools in the future.